Hope in the Form of Racism and Sexism

The ever-subtle conservative commentator and Scooter Libby confidante Robert Novak offered another analytic pearl Sunday on the white guy bar known as NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The fellas were talking about the the 2008 presidential race when Novak said: “Republicans are very pessimistic about 2008. When you talk to them off the record, they don’t see how they can win this thing. And then they think for a minute, and only the Democratic Party, with everything in their favor, would say that, ‘OK, this is the year either to have a woman or an African-American to break precedent, to do things the country has never done before.’ And it gives the Republicans hope.”

Let’s break that down. According to Novak, Republicans have hope because he believes that most Americans won’t vote for an African-American or a woman. Is that true, America? Or is Bob’s time machine stuck on 1948, back when people wore three-piece suits with impunity?

None of his fellow “Meet the Press” panelists pressed Novak with a follow-up question, like, “What the heck does that mean?” Maybe they had stopped listening. Or maybe it’s because “Meet the Press” has African-American guests on about as often as Novak doesn’t wear a vest. According to a recent survey from the liberal media organization Media Matters for America, 89 percent of the guests on “Meet the Press” were white, and 85 percent were dudes. Including Bob Novak.